Vampire Savior
by Shade
Summary: Ranma has always come out on top before. But this time he may have bitten off more then he can chew. Losing this fight could cost him his life. Winning it may cost him his soul...
1. Revenge is a Sword that cuts both ways

Vampire Savior  
by Shade  
  
Disclaimer: Darkstalkers and Co. belong to Capcom.  
Ranma and Co. to Takahashi.  
There are others belonging to other people too.  
Original idea for this story comes from DragonBard.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"So is it agreed then?"  
  
The speaker regarded the two others with barely veiled contempt,  
were not for the fact that he needed them for this task he would  
have destroyed them both without a second thought. But as much  
as he despised these lesser creatures, there was one he hated even  
more, the reason why he had been forced to deal with these scum  
of the night.  
  
Because more then anything else in the world, Saffron,   
the Lord of Phoenix Mountain, wanted Ranma Saotome dead.  
  
"This proposal suits my needs."  
  
The figure on the right was dressed in the garb of a gentleman  
several centuries gone, but not a drop of humanity ran in his veins.   
Dimitri Maximoff, Vampire and Demon Lord, was one of the most  
evil and sadistic tyrants to ever darken the face of the Earth.   
So vile that even his fellow demons had condemned his actions   
and banished him from the Demon World uncounted centuries ago.  
  
"Mine as well."  
  
Vlad the Impaler, known to the rest of the world as Dracula,  
smiled coldly as he watched the foolish demi-immortal.   
The Phoenix King was prideful but stupid, and once the   
birdman's usefulness ended he would become nothing more   
then meat for the hunt.  
  
One underestimated a Master Vampire only once.  
  
Dracula turned to meet his fellow vampire's eyes and gave him  
a small nod that went unnoticed by their unsuspecting companion.  
  
Dimitri's eyes glowed an evil red as he acknowledged his partner's  
sign. The old bastard was still too powerful to betray yet, and   
there would be enough blood and power to satisfy them both in the   
nights to come.  
  
They would work together...for now.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Life sucked.  
  
It shouldn't have, but it did.  
  
Ranma lay on his back on top of the Tendo's roof,  
tonight was a beautiful night, but he hardly noticed.  
He stared tiredly up into the sky and wished once   
again that he'd never gone to China or Phoenix Mountain.  
  
It had been over three months ago, but the   
repercussions of his actions were still   
being felt. The balance between the various  
fiancees and rivals in Nerima had always been  
a fragile one, and his clumsy attempts to try  
and keep the whole situation from blowing up   
in his face hadn't been of much help.  
  
It had only been a matter of time,   
but Ranma always been too busy trying  
to get through the present that he'd  
always put off worrying about the future  
until it came up and bit him on the ass.   
  
Now the young martial artist felt like he was   
in a cage with no way out and the walls were   
coming down on him.   
  
He was finally going to have to face the whole   
engagement mess. He couldn't run away from it   
anymore, not after the almost-wedding disaster.  
  
{Goddamn old man, this is all your fault.}  
  
Genma had gotten him into this,   
but it was left up to Ranma to   
figure a way out.  
  
The only problem was that as far   
as he could tell, there was *no*   
way out.  
  
He had at least two fiancees. There might   
be more out there, after the Kaori incident   
he wasn't sure anymore. But two or two thousand,  
the basic problem was the same. Marrying any one   
of them would result in hurt feelings and lost   
honor on the other side. Breaking any of the   
engagements from his side was also out of the question.  
Such a low act would cause him to become an outcast  
to his peers and Japanese society, people would  
respect *Happosai* over an oathbreaker.  
  
And then there was Shampoo.  
  
By her village's laws they were married.  
  
Fortunately they weren't in China or   
things would have been even more complicated.  
  
But as things stood it was still no picnic.  
  
He'd discovered from the old ghoul that under   
Japanese law his *marriage* actually translated   
into a betrothal of sorts, to be confirmed  
by an actual wedding cermony.   
  
And so technically Shampoo could be counted as  
his *third* fiancee, and there was nothing he   
could do about it.   
  
The first time the amazon had disobeyed   
her tribe's laws she had been punished   
with a Jusenkyo curse.  
  
She'd spared his life when she should have killed him.  
He would never forget her tears when she had looked   
down at him, so hurt by his deception and wanting to   
hurt him back. But she couldn't do it, she had run   
away instead. And the Kamis help him, Ranma had felt   
like he'd become just like his father that day.  
  
He didn't want to know what fate awaited  
Shampoo back home if she failed a second   
time.   
  
He couldn't do that to her.   
Not again.   
Never again.  
  
But everyone kept pushing him to choose.  
  
His father and Soun Tendo wanted him  
to marry Akane and take over the school.  
  
They simply assumed that he wanted to   
stay and teach classes inside the old   
rundown dojo.  
  
But he didn't want to teach.   
He wanted to learn.  
  
He knew from Ryoga that there were other schools,  
other places out there where special techniques  
and training existed. And Ranma wanted so badly  
to go out and look for them. Being the best was  
only the goal, it was getting there that was  
the real fun.  
  
But neither Genma nor Soun understood that desire.  
They thought he should be content with the skills   
he had now. They believed it was enough for him,   
as long as he payed for their long luxurious retirement.  
  
Just like they had assumed that he loved Akane.  
  
{But I don't think I do.}  
  
There were times when he wanted to make her happy  
and there were times when he just wanted to shake   
the tomboy for being such a big idiot.  
  
Akane could be cute when she wanted to be,  
but then turn ugly with anger in an instant.   
At times nice, at others violent, and he   
never knew what would set either one off.  
  
She was the first girl he'd ever really spent   
a lot of time around and Ranma did care about her.   
He cared a lot, enough to risk his neck every   
time the youngest Tendo found herself in trouble.  
  
But love?  
  
No.  
  
He still wasn't really sure what love was.  
There hadn't exactly been a lot of good examples  
during his training trip and even less here  
in Nerima. Was acting like a brain dead fool   
supposed to be love? Beating people up and   
trying to kill them? Or groping all sorts   
of inappropriate places against their will?  
  
In that case he was probably loved by every nutcase in Nerima.  
  
But whatever he felt for Akane, it wasn't   
what their families expected him to feel.   
  
The other girls were all in the same boat.  
  
He cared about them, even Kodachi   
and that annoying Hinako-sensei.  
  
But he didn't love them.  
  
The closest thing that Ranma knew was Nodoka.  
He was pretty sure he loved his mother.   
He'd been willing to die for her after all.   
  
The pigtailed teenager sighed.  
  
{I don't want to get married.}  
  
There lay the crux of his dilemma.   
  
The number of actual dates with *girls*   
he'd been on could be counted on one   
hand with fingers to spare. His knowledge  
of what one actually did with the opposite   
sex was limited to little more then kissing   
and hugging.  
  
According to his mother, being naked with   
them was supposed to be good. But he always  
ended up getting hit whenever that happened.  
  
His father was even less informative (not that   
Ranma trusted him anyway). And the old man's   
example of what marriage was like made the   
prospect even less appealing to his son.  
  
"I just want..."  
  
He frowned after a short silence.  
  
"Damnit. I don't know what I want."  
  
The full moon softly illuminated   
his frustrated features.  
  
{But I know its not this.}  
  
How long was Akane going to stay   
mad at him this time anyway?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"That IDIOT!!"  
  
Nabiki regarded her fuming sister for a moment.  
  
"Calm down sis. What did he do this time?"  
  
{As if I didn't already know. But at least I got paid.}  
  
Most people would feel at least a little guilty   
about setting up someone else for a fall just  
for a quick buck. But Nabiki was of the mind that  
if her victims were dumb enough to fall for her tricks,  
then they deserved whatever they got taken for.  
  
Case in point. Her younger sister had kicked out  
her fiance earlier that evening for the crime of being  
caught in the Nekohanten with Shampoo *and* Ukyo.  
  
They had paid Nabiki most generously to be able to meet with Ranma.  
  
But doublecrossing them and collecting a fee   
from Akane for his whereabouts had made her   
even more money.   
  
The poor boy hadn't even been able to finish   
his explanation before being sent into LEO   
by Air "Guaranteed to Get You There In An Hour or Less" Tendo.   
  
And the middle Tendo sister would be collecting additional   
revenue from Ranma later when he would be forced to come   
to her in search of a way to properly *apologize* to his fiancee.  
  
"That pervert! How dare he still chase after other women!!   
He went against Saffron for me, not for any of those other girls!!   
He was going to marry me!! So why can't that idiot admit   
he loves me and get rid of those floozies!!"  
  
Nabiki picked her next words carefully.  
  
"Maybe he was just there for the free food."  
  
It was like throwing gasoline on a bonfire.  
  
"That BAKA!!!"  
  
Satisfied that her younger sister wouldn't   
be calming down anytime soon, Nabiki went  
back to thinking about how she'd spend her  
ill gotten profits on the next shopping spree.  
  
{I'd almost feel sorry for Ranma, if it wasn't   
so profitable *and* fun making his life miserable.}  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"...-BAKA!!!"  
  
Ranma winced from his seat on the roof.  
  
"So much for trying to sneak back in after she cools off."  
  
He shivered. The air was starting to get chilly.  
  
"I don't understand why she was so mad,  
all I was doing was talking with them.  
It wasn't like we were on a date or nothing."  
  
You'd have thought he'd been acting   
like the old letch from her behavior.  
  
"Why can't she ever trust me?"  
  
He started rubbing his arms together.   
  
"And why is it so cold out here?"  
  
He was downright freezing now.  
  
The young man decided to move around   
the roof in an attempt to warm up.   
He started jogging along the sides,   
getting his blood moving.  
  
It helped a little, but the chill refused to leave him entirely.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
High above the unsuspecting martial artist,  
the two hovering figures eyed their target.  
  
"Now."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
There was no warning.  
  
One moment he was on the roof,   
and the next he was falling as  
the roof exploded in a ball of   
red flame in front of him.  
  
"What the?!"  
  
His training allowed him to easily recover in mid-fall,  
Genma had been a lousy parent but his teachings had proved   
useful on more then one occasion. Like now.  
  
The pigtailed boy landed in the backyard   
and looked around for his attacker.  
  
"Ryoga! If this is another one of your stupid   
'I must avenge myself on Ranma' ideas then  
*YOU* can fix the damn roof this time!!"  
  
{Why can't that moron just give it a rest already!!}  
  
But to his surprise, Hibiki didn't pop up  
with his traditional "Ranma, prepare to die!"  
speech.  
  
Another fireball dropped at his feet.  
This one caught his lower half in the blast,  
ruining his pants and scorching his legs   
and feet in the process.  
  
"Agghh! That hurt you jerk!!"  
  
He looked up, expecting to see Herb  
or one of the other powerful martial   
artists or magical beings he'd encountered   
before (and usually ended up fighting).  
  
Instead he was greeted with the sight of  
two strange looking men standing (!) in midair.  
  
"Who the hell are you guys!?"  
  
Something about the way they were looking   
at him made Ranma's skin crawl.  
  
They were dressed weird too, for some reason  
he was reminded of the time when he'd been   
conned into that play "Romeo and Juliet".  
  
But something told him that these guys weren't actors.  
  
~~~~~~~   
  
Dimitri studied the boy carefully,   
looking for any sign of the power   
that had supposedly bested Saffron.  
  
{Bah! As if a mere mortal could be any threat to me!}  
  
The boy was merely a boy. He would die like all the others.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma figured out that these guys were not friendly   
about the same time they threw another barrage of   
those damn fireballs at him.  
  
{What did I ever do to those two?   
Don't tell me they're here to collect   
some old bar bill from Genma!!}  
  
He dodged them this time, but the yard wasn't so lucky.  
  
{Aww man! Those repair people just fixed it   
from the last big fight! And I just know   
that the Tendos are going to make me pay for   
this. This bites!!}  
  
"You jerks!! Come down here and fight me like a man!!"  
  
Unfortunately, despite frequent encounters with magic   
and the supernatural, the young Saotome had never faced  
vampires before. Like most people he thought such monsters  
were nothing more then stuff to scare little kids.   
  
Tonight he was going to learn differently.  
  
"You mean like this?"  
  
The punch caught Ranma squarely in the stomach  
and sent him flying into the wall bordering   
the yard. He made a two meter wide crater on impact.  
It felt worse then even Ryoga's best haymaker.   
  
"Guuuhh..."  
  
A salty metallic warmth rushed up   
his throat to fill his mouth.  
  
"Phehh!"  
  
The martial artist spat out a mouthful of blood.  
  
{How did?! I didn't even sense he was there!}  
  
Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of movement.  
  
{!}  
  
Ranma ducked just in time as the concrete   
shattered under a black boot. Since talking  
didn't seem to do any good all that was left  
was to fight.  
  
His rising counter kick to the chest would have   
made even Pantyhose Taro think twice, but it   
didn't seem to phase this pointy haired bastard   
in the slightest. It was just like hitting solid   
rock, except harder and more painful.  
  
Two quick blows to his face rocked Ranma back  
on his heels. He blocked the third and turned  
it into an over the shoulder throw. Only to  
find that at some point between the toss and   
the ground that his opponent had vanished.  
  
{What the?!}   
  
A spinning drill kick from above caught him on the forehead.  
It was the same guy, but how had he gotten up there again?!  
  
The martial artist shook his head   
to try and clear it. Although he'd   
taken several blows that would have   
rendered most people unconscious or worse,   
Saotomes were notorious for their ability   
to soak up physical punishment. He might  
not be quite as tough as Ryoga, but it   
would take more then that to keep him down.  
  
{But *where* is he?!}  
  
The uppercut sent him flying.  
  
What happened next could best be described  
as one of the cheesiest smack down air juggle  
ultra combos ever done outside of Marvel vs. Capcom 2.  
  
The young man was literally pummeled from all directions  
by fists and feet as the teleporting vampire turned him   
into a human punching bag. His entire body was nothing   
more then an explosion of pain, there was no time to   
recover, no chance to fight back. All he could do   
was try to roll with the beating in an attempt   
to reduce the damage he was taking.   
  
The finisher was Dimitri's Triple Assault Air Drill Dive.  
  
Teleporting in sequence, the vicious bloodsucker delivered  
three powerful hits to the martial artist's chest,   
shredding his shirt and leaving two long slashes   
bleeding across his front.  
  
Ranma crashed down to the street, limp and silent.  
  
"All too easy."  
  
The arrogant villain landed and moved toward the unmoving body.  
  
Bending down, he reached out to grab   
the boy's neck and finish the job.  
  
Ranma opened his eyes and grinned.  
  
Anything Goes Strategy #5: Play Dead.  
  
"Time for round two, Asshole."  
  
Dimitri's jaw dropped.   
  
Then his eyes widened and crossed  
as with every bit of strength the  
heir to the Saotome school kicked  
him dead center in the nads.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Dracula smiled coldly as he witnessed   
his partner's lesson in humility.  
  
The Master Vampire had learned long ago   
that it was unwise to underestimate these humans.   
  
{Good. He recovers quickly. The boy will make an excellent thrall.}  
  
Saffron was an idiot.   
  
Why waste the potential in this one   
when he could simply be turned into   
one of them?  
  
(to be continued)  



	2. Blood will Tell

Vampire Savior  
by Shade  
  
Disclaimer: It's not my fault.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
Chapter 2: Blood Will Tell   
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The vampire demon was suddenly too busy clutching   
his groin to pay much attention to anything else.  
  
Saotome rewarded his lack of vigilance with  
a rapid flurry of full power kicks into his   
fine featured face. Three hits splattered   
Dimitri's nose, the sixth dropped him to his   
knees, and Ranma closed in for the kill.  
  
"Dokuja Tanketsu Sho!"  
  
His flat palms slammed into the reeling monster's  
chest, striking where in a normal person the  
heart would be located. But if Dimitri still   
had a heart, it was black and dead as a lump   
of coal. The attack merely inflicted a great  
deal of pain to the vampire, which was something   
that the overconfident villain was unused to   
after his long exile to Earth.   
  
Tonight Dimitri was going to get a refresher course.  
  
"Geimon Tetsu Sen Shi!!"  
  
Ranma's hands arced down and repeated the strike,  
this time hitting his opponent dead center in the  
abodomen. The pressure delivered by the points  
of his fingers ripped straight through the fiend's   
withered stomach, and Dimitri jackknifed forward  
in sudden agony.  
  
A front snap kick brought him up straight for a moment.  
  
Then Ranma finished his unconventional combo.  
  
"Haku Dato Shin Sho!"  
  
This time the force of his rapid fire   
finger strikes went straight through   
Dimitri's body.   
  
Ranma hit the bastard over a dozen times,   
not holding back an inch, knowing that he dared   
not give his opponent a chance to go back on   
the offensive. There was no time to worry  
about fair play or the fact that he'd vowed  
to never use the forbidden techniques because  
they were so dangerous. He was in a fight  
for his very survival now, and even the   
old horror of killing Saffron was now   
trifling in comparision to the sudden  
confrontation of his own impending extinction.  
  
He wanted to live.  
  
It was almost funny, only when faced with death  
did he finally realize that all of his previous   
problems seemed so meaningless in the grand scheme   
of things.  
  
"Filthy Barbarian!"  
  
Dimitri drew back, spitting obscenities and promises of a long   
and painful death at his opponent. His once elegant features   
were cortorted into an ugly mask of hate and rage, exposing   
the true monster that lay beneath the noble's facade.   
  
Never, in all the centuries he'd sent on Earth, had he been so humilated!  
  
A weakling human had actually managed to injure him!   
  
It was an insult that could not be borne!   
  
"You *hurt* me...Now you will pay the ultimate price for your crime!"  
  
An eruption of raw blazing red power shoved Ranma away, forcing the  
young martial artist to dig in his heels and crossblock with his arms   
to avoid being overwhelmed by the sudden surge of evil strength from   
the now completely enraged vampire.  
  
{Damn! Its just like fighting Saffron all over again!}  
  
Ranma was good, but he was only human.   
  
{Calm down. Think Saotome. Strength isn't everything in a fight,  
there has to be something I can counter with, an opening,   
a weakness I'm just not seeing! I can't lose! I won't lose!!}  
  
Crimson fire bathed Dimitri's half-naked form as his body swelled.   
Inhuman muscles bulged forth as he reverted to his true shape,   
a hideous seven foot tall bat-winged monster with glaring red eyes  
and an oversized mouth full of large razor sharp teeth.  
  
"Die Human Scum!!"  
  
Scarlet lightning and ruby bats of pure flame blasted forth from   
Dimitri's chest. There was no chance to dodge, no safe spot in the   
lethal barrage.   
  
There was only instinct.  
  
"Hiryu Shoten Ha! Revised horizontal blast!!"  
  
Ranma reached into the deepest core of his being for the crystal purity  
of the Soul of Ice, embracing its chilling power with the raw strength  
of complete desperation. The glowing blue dragon's head of pure cold  
chi that erupted from his out thrust hand roared like a hungry beast as   
it spiraled out to meet the other attack.   
  
Distantly he could hear sounds of alarm from the house, as they finally  
figured out where all the noise was coming from. But that was only a  
secondary consideration, for that was when the two blasts collided.  
  
"Hnnnh!"  
  
A sound like a thunderclap struck both combatants as the heads of the two blasts exploded in between them. Even with both feet braced in anticipation the violence of the tornado's birth drove Ranma back.   
  
"Haaaaa!!"  
  
His feet sank deeply into the loose soil as he kept fueling the howling storm   
that spun around him. Of his opponent he could barely keep track, the monster   
was only a dim speck being hurtled around in the dark vortex above. The martial   
artist fought to hold the tornado's power back, he had put too much of himself   
into that last attack. His own technique threatened to take him now, he no longer   
had control over it. It was a wild thing, loosed of any restraint, and all   
he could hope to do was ride the danger out.  
  
The heavy winds pressed in from all sides. They seemed to whisper to him   
"Let go." "Let us take you.", but he refused to give in to the seductive  
voices. He ached all over and his chest was burning something fierce.  
It seemed that the hits he'd taken from Dimitri had done more damage   
then he'd first thought.   
  
Ranma didn't know how long he struggled inside the heart of the twister,  
but gradually he finally noticed that the deadly wind was dying down.  
And not a moment too soon, his resistance to the storm had taken a  
heavy toll on his reserves. His legs were shaking when he finally  
stepped out of the deep impression in the ground.  
  
But that was the least of his problems.  
  
{Did I get him?!}  
  
He was answered a few moments later by a loud thud as a dark form slammed into the ground.  
  
{I did it. I beat h-}  
  
The last thing he felt was a sharp blow to the back of his neck.  
  
And then there was only darkness.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Hey! Keep it down! People are trying to sleep you know!"  
  
Nabiki had long since learned to tune out the regular sounds of Ranma's   
occasional nocturnal battles with Ryoga or some other idiot who decided  
that they couldn't wait for it to be light outside before trying to beat the   
living snot out of the young Saotome.  
  
But having the backyard blown up, followed by a full fledged tornado   
in the street, now that was going too far! She needed her beauty sleep!  
  
"When I get my hands on you, I'm going to give your wallet such a *pinch!"  
  
She was beaten to the first floor by Akane, her younger sister was already   
muttering about "bakas" and "punishments" as she stomped her way towards   
the door.  
  
Nabiki paused to give the guest room an evil look.  
  
"That damn panda can sleep through anything!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Can you stand?"  
  
A growl answered him from the depths of the crater.  
  
"I'll kill him!"  
  
"No, you won't. He's of more use to us alive."  
  
Only the fact that he didn't stand a chance against the elder vampire   
in his weakened condition stopped Dimitri from disobeying his orders   
and even then it was a close call.  
  
With a muted growl of thwarted rage, the vampire lord stood up.   
  
"Control yourself."  
  
It was digusting how these snotty little upstarts had no sense of dignity.   
Dracula wondered (not for the first time) how on earth such a barbaric ruffian   
had managed to survive so long as a vampire. In his day such fools were   
impaled through the bowls and left hanging above his lawns to die a long  
agonizing death. Really, even this young mortal had more class then his partner.  
  
"We have what we came for. Let us be off."  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Inside a bedroom in the Nekohanten a single cry broke the silence of the night.  
  
Cologne switched on the lights, still shivering from the evil presence   
that had brushed her dreams. A fine cold sweat covered the old Amazon's  
shrunken form, and the Village Elder was afraid.  
  
Something terrible had happened.  
  
She dressed quickly and stepped into a seldom used room near the back of building.  
  
Here a small shrine had been mounted for the Gods and Goddesses of the Chinese Amazons.  
  
Lighting some joss sticks and placing them within the craved bowl set in the center of  
the shrine, Cologne did something she had not done since she had been pregnant with   
Shampoo's mother's mother.  
  
She prayed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saffron paced in front of his throne impatiently.   
  
Unnoticed in the shadows of the room, a solitary   
figure watched the impatient ruler with a heavy heart.  
  
Kiima was deeply worried about her charge. She feared that the elders   
had made a terrible mistake in choosing to again restore their Champion   
to his full power so quickly.   
  
Always before the tribe had let Saffron grow as one of their own,  
giving him time to mature and remember the responsibilities that  
were his domain.  
  
But in recent years regional events had conspired to deprive them of that luxury.   
  
First had been the probes of the barbaric Chinese Army.  
  
The winged people had needed the full power of their still toddling icon.  
  
But the change in him afterwards had been apparent to all.   
  
The adult Saffron had been arrogant, short tempered and unstable.   
  
And then he'd been slain by a single weak human.  
  
The disaster of that and the destruction of the hot water spring  
that served their community had been simply devastating to her   
people's morale.   
  
They had been afraid.   
  
They'd needed their leader.  
  
So for the second time Saffron had been brought back into his prime   
before mind and spirit were ready to handle the strain.  
  
But now he seemed to be obsessed with only one thing.  
  
The complete and total destruction of the young man   
who had dared to injure his divine being, Ranma Saotome.  
  
Kiima feared that her lord's obsession was blinding him  
to the real threat.  
  
But still she said nothing.  
  
For it was not her place to speak.   
  
She could only serve.  
  
And pray that Saffron's vendetta would not doom them all...  
  
(To be continued...) 


End file.
